


Balance is Essential

by Hungry_AloeLeaf



Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: F/M, Fire/Gray if you wish, Fireheart is Always Right, Humor, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I'm too lazy to change it, Tragedy/Comedy, Tragic Romance, everybody misspells, except when he's tying you to a chair to feed you pie, i think, idk if it's good or not, idk what this is, like i said idk, misspellings be fine sometimes, oneshot i think, rereading this and realizing i'm trash at verb tenses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:46:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27003745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hungry_AloeLeaf/pseuds/Hungry_AloeLeaf
Summary: Graystripe is trying his best, but that's not working out too well for himidk what inspired me to do this except a sudden love of Gray and I'm bad at summaries and titles. i'll change it later if I need to but rn me exhaust
Relationships: Firestar/Graystripe (Warriors), Graystripe/Silverstream (Warriors)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 15





	Balance is Essential

“Don’t you walk away from me, because we’re not done talking about this!”

It was a sore understatement to say that Fireheart was fuming. Even in the icy chill of leafbare, steam practically whistled from his ears; heated paws stamping down the crunchy snow beneath them.

In contrast, Graystripe felt lighter than air, ears filled with Silverstream’s soft murmurs and paws nearly dancing on the icy mush.

“What’s there to talk about?” The gray tom paused to sniffle a little. “I love her, she loves me back… seems perfect to me. Plus, she is kinda hot…”

“I don’t give a doodling dog if she just hopped out of the deep fryer!” Fireheart spat, claws kicking up snow behind him. “Not to mention, it’s against the Code we follow! And I have plenty of other reasons why this is a bad idea!”

“Go on, then…” The fluffy tom muttered defeatedly. Not like he’d be listening, but once Fireheart got started, there was certainly no stopping him.

“For one thing, you’ll have to keep trekking out in this disgusting chilliness to see her. For another, how long do you think it’ll take before somebody else finds out? Not long, if I was able to find you in a week of this nonsense. Starclan, didn’t even make a good effort to disguise your scent! I don’t know what has gotten into you to make you fall in ‘love’ with her anyways! Furthermore, you’re sick, and you can’t keep straining yourself to meet this woman! Besides, if she happened to come to you one day hollering about she’s pregnant, do you have ANY IDEA about the damn child support-”

Graystripe zoned out then, focusing rather on the tabby whose scent still swirled in his nose.

_Silverstream._

She was so brave to jump in after him like that – even braver to start meeting him. It was admirable, how strong-willed she was. She treated sneaking out of camp to see him was as simple as batting an eyelash, as if she didn’t know they would get in trouble for it one day.

She didn’t seem to care what her Clanmates thought about it, and it gave a feeling of his own sense of security with her.

Her talk about Riverclan wasn’t too interesting, but the way she told it in silly voices and bubbly giggles just made his heart thud with joy. Either that was causing these feelings inside of him or the cold. And honestly, he was banking on the former.

By the time they made it back, Fireheart was still rambling on about things he didn’t and didn’t wish to understand, because it was final, he was in love, nobody would ever stop this.

Maybe that was his first mistake.

At first, he kept visiting Silverstream, about five times a moon. They would talk and play, chasing butterflies that were just out of their reach and fish that slipped from Graystripe’s claws each time. Games that made him feel like a kit again, and worries and stress would melt away whenever they played. She’d always giggle, laugh, then murmur something about how much she missed him.

So, it became six times a moon. Fireheart’s complaining had ceased at this point, but those disapproving looks burned into him each time he left camp – even if he was just going to the dirtplace.

Juggling visits and Brackenpaw’s training became more difficult, especially when he was a little more drained from recovering from his sickness and the trips to the border. He handled it well-enough initially, and always got the training completed for the day before flopping into his nest and thinking of _her_.

 _Silverstream_ , with her silky fur and her spunkiness and her bubbly laughter.

 _What was she doing? Was she asleep? Had she had a bad day? If she did, maybe he could go comfort her. But it that what she wanted? What_ did _she want?_

The next time they met, it became quite clear what she wanted.

“I want you, Gray…” She sighed, dragging a paw over his shoulder while she gazed into his eyes longingly.

“Who wouldn’t?” He earned another giggle at that.

“You know I mean. Can we meet more often?” She batted her lashes at him pleadingly. “ _Pleeeeeeease?_ ”

He paused for a heartbeat, breath swirling in the cold, night air.

“I don’t know, Sil…”

“Come on, Gray! I miss you so much, every day,” She drew away slightly, gaze dropping to the river below. “I wish that you could be in camp with me…”

Whoa. _Too far. Too fast._

Yes, yes, he loved her (she was his entire world now), but… leaving his Clan? _Everything he’d ever known? His family?_

He choked down the indignant squawk of protest, instead plastering on a smile.

“W-well, I wish that you could be in my territory too somedays… but I couldn’t ask you to do that.” Graystripe tugged himself away as well, releasing the heavy breath that swelled in his chest.

The frown that settled on her muzzle certainly wasn’t making him feel any better about this. But she didn’t push it, and only nodded in understanding. Another thing he adored about her was how understanding she could be.

But he sure didn’t like how hurt she looked sitting there. Had he messed up?

Probably.

Proposing to meet even more often was the only way he could think of at the time to make it up to her.

So, on the meetings went. Things in Clan life slipped his mind even more often now. He was mostly fixated on her, on patrols, in dreams, while hunting…

It took him several days after a moon of meeting her nine times to realize that something was particularly off. He was by himself, holed away in his nest with a vole, awaiting a certain ginger tom so he could share.

It was taking Fireheart a while to get there, but eventually, Graystripe could spot the bright pelt in the dimming evening light among the others filing in.

Even in the dark, he could sense the scowl his friend was sporting, but he remained hopeful anyways.

“Hey, champion,” The gray tom purred out, shifting on the moss. “What took you so long to get here?”

No reply came when the ginger tom dived into the moss, curling up (curiously so his back faced Graystripe). A peppery scent of anger floated from the bright pelt, and the striped tom tilted his head, confused.

“What’s wrong?” He got no answer to that, so he shoved the vole Fireheart’s way. “Been saving this for you. You hungry?”

“No.” Fireheart’s voice was small.

“Oh…” The gray tom looked down at the prey, now cold, and swept his tail over it. “Well, what’s got you down?”

“Like you would even care.”

The pause that followed managed to instill a surprising amount of uncomfortableness into Graystripe. This… this wasn’t about to go well, was it? It was in his best interest to shut up at this point, but he couldn’t just let Fireheart think that.

“Of course I care, you mousebrain…” He shifted closer. “What’d make you think I didn’t?”

And that got Fireheart to rise out of his nest. Every alarm was firing within Graystripe’s skull now, screaming to just abandon it all and stop asking stupid questions and go to sleep before his friend gets more pissed at him. All he can do is sit rigid as the ginger tom glared down at him.

“Outside.” Fireheart stole away from the cluster of nests and slipped out of the warriors’ den. “Right now.”

Against his better judgement, Graystripe followed after a few heartbeats of collecting himself, paws thumping after the orange ones at a much slower pace. The dimly lit sky showcases Fireheart’s displeased expression when he finally stops near a secluded area of camp.

“I can’t do this anymore, alright?” The tom’s mew was harsh. “I know you’re off having the time of your life with that fish-lady, but I am not training Brackenpaw for you anymore. I’m not covering for you, or anything else.”

“What are you talking about,” Graystripe’s brow furrowed in puzzlement. “About covering for me?”

“How do you think? You haven’t been getting caught yet, have you?!”

 _Oh Starclan_. He hadn’t asked for Fireheart to do that. He voiced this soon after the thought came, flinching at his friend’s snort.

“I feel like it was pretty obvious. By the way, you have to act like you have bad diarrhea now. But the point is, I can’t handle two apprentices at once. You are a warrior, Graystripe, a warrior who is technically betraying his Clan and not completing his tasks.”

“Fire…”

“Don’t, okay? You need to get your act together before Tigerclaw, or even worse, Bluestar notices.”

Graystripe glanced away, thoughts racing like mice. _Dammit, he was right. He almost always was._ Eventually, somebody would notice. He and Silverstream would be punished. Exiled? Maybe worse, who knows…

“I could try to reason with her, I guess… but she might not like it….”

“Does it look like I give a fried flip-flop what she likes?! I’m trying to keep my sanity, and you are not making this any easier right now!”

“But we’re both happy this way!” Graystripe blurted, before he could help it, again ignoring that voice in the back of his head shrieking at him to _shut up shut up shut up_ \- “After all of that we’ve been through, with Lionheart, the Brokenstar thing, don’t you want me to be happy?”

Fireheart recoiled, tail lashing furiously.

“You better know it! But it’s… it’s not all about happiness. Tragedies happen, and we never get over it, but we can’t just waste our time chasing happiness either, not when it’ll come to us when the time is right. There has to be a balance, Graystripe.” The ginger tom paused once more, deflating in a sigh. “Look, I’m no fan of Silverstream, but… if she does make you happy, I’m not telling you to stop seeing her. But there has to be a balance. Do you understand that?”

Graystripe nodded guiltily, ears drooping. Silverstream sure wouldn’t like this, but… Fireheart had a point. And it was a better solution to not seeing her at all.

“I guess you’re right.”

“I always am.” The smaller tom puffed his chest out.

“Shut it… I’ll tell her after tomorrow. For now… I guess I do need to start getting my act together.”

“Atta boy!” Fireheart buried himself against him with a happy chirp. “Knew you’d start using your head _eventually!_ ”

Graystripe chuckled softly, nuzzling the back his friend’s ear and breathing in the cinnamon-y scent.

Yeah, his head wasn’t being used for much nowadays, was it?

“Come on, then. You look asleep on your paws,” The gray tom forced himself to rip away. “And… sorry for leaving you with two kits to manage.”

“Eh, no biggie. As long as it doesn’t happen again, Romeo?”

“It won’t.” But one promise came at the expense of another.

Just as he surmised, Silverstream was not too thrilled about this. It truly did pain him to see her face twisted into a betrayed glare.

“But I thought this was how often we were meeting now.”

“Sil, you gotta understand this, okay? Please?” Begging might be his only option now. “I have an apprentice, and I’ve had to neglect him for… these meetings. But even if we don’t meet, we still know that we love each other, right?”

“It’s not the same!” She burst out, sounding close to tearful, something that made him want to wrap around her and comfort her. “I…”

She then mumbled something to herself, seeming a million times more nervous than Graystripe had ever seen her.

“What’s going on, Silvy?” Suspicion leaked into his mew.

“Well… so… you know what happens when a mummy and a daddy wuv each other very much…?”

“…They magically become mates and birds drop their kits down from Starclan?”

“Something like that.” A paw smacked against her face. “So, um, what if I told you… that you and me… would be a mummy and daddy? Like soon. Real soon.”

Graystripe nearly burst into laughter, unaware of her increasingly anxious stare.

“Stars, me? A daddy? You really got some jokes in you Sil-”

“I’M PREGNANT, OKAY?!” Her holler rang through the tree surrounding the Thunderclan side of the border.

The rest of the night was silent after that.

==-==

And that…. that was how he ended up here, wasn’t it?

A few moons later, sitting by the river, feeling like his life was about to end.

Fireheart anxiously stood by his side; emerald eyes blown wide in horror as they all stared down the tabby yowling at their feet.

“You’re doing well, so well…” Cinderpelt murmured more comforting words in the Riverclan queen’s ear, but her attentive gaze was on the blood leaking from the silver tabby.

Tigerclaw, from where he sat, looked quite disgusted.

Graystripe could only sit rigid, paralyzed with worry for the new mother and his new kits. He was about to be a father any moment now, and the strong, dependable she-cat who had painstakingly dragged herself here didn’t seem to be doing too great, despite whatever Cinderpelt was whispering.

“You can do it, Sil!” He called when her desperate gaze flashed up to him. “Do it for them.” He added quickly.

He froze again when Fireheart shifted closer, head resting on his shoulder, twitching tail twining with his. Fear scent soured the smaller tom’s aroma now, and Graystripe could safely assume that he smelled the same way.

He’d never really seen a birth before, but…

“Here comes a kit!” Cinderpelt gasped, but the delight drained from her eyes as quickly as it came.

“Yeah, come on now! Push, Silverstream, push!” Graystripe cheered from the side.

“What the foxdung do you think I’m doing?!” Her words were strained, but eventually, something happened.

Everybody let out a cheer (apart from Tigerclaw, who gagged).

 _A KIT!_ Graystripe’s tail wagged enthusiastically.

“One more,” Cinderpelt breathed out. “One more. You can do it.”

“It hurts…” Silverstream groaned, with a shudder.

But she pushed.

One more thing happened, but then something else that was more unexpected. More blood. The scent got to the point where it drowned out anything else in Graystripe’s nose. He crept closer, blinking into her glazed eyes.

“Sil?” His mate only shuddered. “Cinders, what’s wrong with her?”

“She’s losing too much blood…” Cinderpelt’s fur stood on end. Things really couldn’t be good if even the medicine cat was panicking.

“Gee, you think?” Tigerclaw sarcastically piped. “She’s bleeding out a river over here.”

Well, since you seem so eager to volunteer,” Cinderpelt scooped up the kittens and shoved the bundles into Tigerclaw’s paws. “Lick them. They need warmth, stat!”

“B-but…” Tigerclaw gingerly held them out far away from him. “They have pregnant lady blood all over them! I don’t want to lick them!”

“ ** _WOULD YOU RATHER PERISH, FLIMSY MORTAL?_** ”

That sent the senior warrior a-licking faster than a Twoleg with an ice cream cone.

Meanwhile, Graystripe was focused on his mate beside him, worry prickling through his pelt.

“Sil, come on. Say something to me, please…” He nestled his paw over hers. Why… why was her paw getting so cold? “Silverstream? Silverstream, please…”

A weak laugh left her.

“I did it… two of them…”

“Stay with me, Silver!” He dove by her side, nuzzling her cheek urgently. “We need you! Stay awake with me. Just stay awake.”

“I’ll be watching them...”

“No…” Dread swirled in his stomach. “No, no, no, it won’t be the same…”

Nothing.

“Sil? Sil?”

That’s when Fireheart yanked away from him and ran off somewhere in the woods. Cinderpelt slumped in defeat, and it was hard to tell through all of the licking if Tigerclaw had noticed or was upset.

But all he could process was his mate, limp in a puddle of red, listless blue eyes staring up at the sky above.

He knew if it hadn’t been for their kits she’d fought so hard to leave behind, his world would have completely shattered.

**Author's Note:**

> I can't write romance or humor but practice makes perfect...ish  
> this is bad  
> but i can't edit
> 
> Thank you for reading!! Comments, bookmarks, and kudos are always so appreciated, and I hope you had a good read!


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